Lightweight makes adjustments

Back on Sept. 30, Cornell defeated the Penn lightweight football team, 17-13. After Quaker coach Bill Wagner discussed what went wrong, he then talked about his team's prospects for the rematch. "We can beat Cornell," Wagner said. "We just can't play that way. We're just going to have to regroup." Penn has had five weeks to regroup. And at 7:30 tonight on Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y., the Quakers will find out if they can indeed beat the Big Red. The first game was something of a surprise for Penn. The Quakers went into the contest expecting a balanced attack from the Cornell offense, but the Big Red ratio of running plays to passing plays was almost two to one. Leading the ground attack for Cornell was junior running back Jon Roth, the Big Red's leading rusher with 333 yards on 91 carries. Against Penn, Roth smashed and spun his way for 107 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. "He's a big back -- durable," Wagner said. "We need to shut him down. We'd like to hold him under 60 yards." To do that, the Quakers will have to do a better job defending the counter, on which Roth gained most of his yardage in the first game. The play took advantage of the Quakers' aggressiveness by letting the defense run itself out of position. Penn has made some adjustments for this game. The Quakers will move their linebackers back a yard so they can react better, and the defensive line is taking a new approach to run defense. "Instead of penetrating into the backfield," senior linebacker Steve Barry said, "they're going to take more of an angle so they don't run past him." If the Penn defense can do its job, it will be up to the Quaker offense to provide enough points to win the game. But if the first Cornell game is indicative, that might be difficult. Penn struggled on offense for three quarters before putting up two fourth-quarter scores. The Big Red defense held the Quakers to 56 net rushing yards and forced four turnovers. "We're going to try and run the ball and establish [running backs Rich] Miller and Joel [Correia]," Wagner said. "We're looking to take the short passes and keep our offense on the field." Besides winning and losing, the game will also be special for all the Penn seniors competing in their final game in the Red and Blue. "This will be the last thing we remember about football," Barry said. "We won't be able to come back. When you walk off the field after your last game, you want to walk off a winner." If things go well for the Quakers tonight, Barry and the rest of the seniors will get that chance.